Like everyone else the T3 has helped, but the consultant is trying his best to wrestle the T3 off me... Latest was that he wanted to see how I was without!!! I stated I was in NO MOOD to tinker as I had started to feel well... I am sorry I cant put my Blue Horizon test up for you to compare but wondered if anyone had any thoughts looking at this, and the 1st test is on my profile... Thanks Jo... PS I am on 20mcg T3 and t4 100
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scorpiojo
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scorpiojo I can't see any test results on your profile.
Don't let the endo mess with your meds. Those results above show that your TSH is still too high and there is plenty of room for your FT3 to increase. You are undermedicated.
By the way, your vitamin D isn't optimal, it should be 100-150nmol/L.
Looking at your Ferritin result on your post on the PA forum, 30 (15-300), this is far too low. It needs to be at least 70, recommended is half way through range.
what should that Tsh be please? And are there any links I can print off to show I'm under medicated? Why then are Endos trying to take us off? Thanks 😊
The TSH should be wherever it is needed to be for you, as an individual, to feel well. There is no 'one size fits all'.
Generally, the aim of a treated hypo patient is for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it is needed for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective ranges if that is where you feel well. This is for patients on Levo only.
Dr Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, wrote this in a Pulse Online magazine article:
"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.
In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l. Most patients will feel well in that circumstance.
But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.
This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."
If you email louise.roberts@thyroiduk.org.uk she will let you have a copy of the article which you can print out and show your Endo.
Again that is for patients on Levo only.
However, I believe that the suggestion about TSH being 1 or below is relevant for a patient on any thyroid replacement hormone but at the end of the day it is the FT3 result that is important as T3 is the active hormone. As long as FT3 stays in range the TSH and FT4 don't really matter because T3 in any form (synthetic or NDT) will lower them. I don't have a link for that.
The endos are trying to take T3 off us because of it's cost. There have been many posts about it, this is just one
When you are on drugs containing T3 (be it synthetic T3 or natural desiccated thyroid), the TSH becomes irrelevant. Many patients on drugs containing T3 have a below range (suppressed) TSH and prefer it that way. I, for instance, have had a TSH <0.01 for ten years, and I only started to feel remotely human after it dropped below 0.2 (lower normal limit for labs where I live). I have Hashimoto's disease, and my antibody and anti-Tg levels tend to remain in range when my TSH is suppressed. If my TSH ends up where most doctors want it (if the doctor is slightly enlightened, between 1-2, if not, anywhere in range), my anti-TPO and anti-Tg levels skyrocket.
A colleague of mine had her whole thyroid gland removed because of a tumour, and she is being kept on TSH suppressive doses of T4 meds to minimise the risk of recurrence. I cannot help but wonder how it's possible to keep ThyCa patients on TSH suppressive doses of thyroid meds for the rest of their lives, and they are supposedly fine, whereas a suppressed TSH becomes dangerous the minute it occurs in someone who happens to be hypothyroid due to Hashimoto's...?
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